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Out Loud: Preparing for a Poetry Read-Aloud

Developed by Sandy Scragg, New York City, 2002

Lesson 6: Poems in Practice--Last-Minute Tips & Advice

Instructional Objectives:

1) Students will be able to receive feedback from students based on a commonly-compiled rubric.

2) Students will be able to hone their poetry reading skills after receiving feedback from students, the teacher, and an expert in the field (we had a poet visit our class).

Time Required: 2 to 3 45-minute class sessions (depending on the availability of a guest to offer more advice)

Materials/Resources Required: A student-created rubric with copies to go around; A visitor who can offer a new perspective on reading poetry out loud--either a poet, a performer, or someone who runs a reading series. (We were lucky to find someone who met all three criteria! Our visitor was Soraya Shalforoosh, a published poet who is also the Director of the New York-based CCS Reading Series. Soraya reads around New York frequently, and she has her MFA in Poetry from the New School.)

Vocabulary & Key Concepts: constructive criticism

Procedures & Activities:

1) Introduce your visitor. If the visitor is a poet, ask him or her to model a reading for the class.

2) Then sit down with the visitor and the class. The visitor should take questions and also offer more advice about reading poems. (Soraya has been reading publicly for over 10 years, and when she first began, she was always told that she read too quickly. She carries a folder with her to her readings and inside, written with a big black Sharpie marker is scrawled, "Read Slowly!" Also, she wears a charm given to her by a friend, supposed to protect performers.)

3) Ask students to team up in groups of two. If there's an odd student out, the visiting poet will team up with that student.

4) Distribute the rubrics. The teams will hand in a written evaluation of each other. The rest of the class, the teacher, and the visitor, will all offer advice verbally to each reader based on the criteria outlined in the rubric. You may want to go over "constructive criticism"--encourage students to be gently honest, offer tips based on the rubric, and comment on aspects of the reading that can be changed for the better.

5) The students will all read their poems one-by-one. After each student reads, they will take comments from the class, both positive and negative.

6) After all the students have read, ask the visitor and the students themselves for any tips not already mentioned. (responses from my class: "If you make a mistake, don't get nervous. Just start over or take a breath and move on." "Don't trail off at the end, stay focused and strong throughout the entire reading." "Look up at your audience sometimes." "If you are shaking, bring something to hold onto, or lean on a podium if you can." "If you can't deal with looking at the audience, look at the spot where the ceiling meets the wall to keep yourself looking up and not down at your feet." "If you feel really comfortable, walk around the room and gesture to show emphasis.")

7) Students should now feel ready to go for a more public performance in front of the entire school. In my class, some students went to local readings themselves either as participants or viewers. This unit may spark a new interest for your students.

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